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Keeping NFV on trackWhy it’s important – and how STL Partners can help

12/12/2017

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About this document

• This document is a collection of slides presented by webinar in

December 2017.

• A full recording of the webinar is available online.

• Further information about STL Partners’ NFV Deployment Tracker

can be found on our website.

• If you have any questions about this topic, or would like to learn

more about STL Partners, please get in touch.

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Today’s panel

Amy CameronSenior Analyst

David MartinAssociate Analyst

Matt PooleyConsultant

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‘NFV is like a satnav where the road network itself is in constant flux, and the co-ordinates for the enddestination are constantly changing.’NFV Deployment Tracker, September 2017

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What is SDN/NFV?

Today’s assumption: attendees know what these acronyms mean,

and that they represent important technological trends

Network Functions Virtualisation

separating out networking functions (e.g. routing, firewalls, packet and IP cores, etc.)

and associated management functions from dedicated hardware, and running them

instead on commodity computing hardware

Software Defined Networking

centralisation of the control plane function previously fulfilled by routers within the

network, allowing data flows to be optimised and programmed more flexibly and

intelligently

+

Recap:

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And why does it matter?

• Sea change in scalability, performance and agility of comms networks

• Fundamental enabler for other emerging tech: IoT, AI, 5G, Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC), etc.

• Telcos will not be successful in any of these areas without implementing some form of SDN / NFV

• SDN / NFV is for the network what the evolution from hardware to software was for the computer: network of the future will need to operate and flex at software speeds

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STL Partners: considerable subject-matter expertise

Consulting engagements

…NFV

Deployment Tracker

12+ Executive Briefing reports

How do we get there?…

What’s already happening?

What should happen?

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What is the NFV Deployment Tracker?

• Quarterly-updated service

• Tracking verified, live commercial deployments of NFV & SDN

• Data sourced from operators, vendors & reliable industry media

• Mostly public-domain but includes information supplied direct to STL Partners by telcos (added to an aggregate data set)

• Goal: industry’s most comprehensive, reliable source of market intelligence on NFV and SDN in live telco networks

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How is the data provided?

• Growing Excel database charting live deployments by:

• Quarterly releases:– September 2017: Europe

– December 2017: Europe + North America

– March 2018: worldwide

• Supplemented by an analytical report, discussing trends observed in the context of global industry developments

– Operator

– Region / country

– Technology type

– Date

– Vendor(s)

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Key data points

• Data on 59 completed and planned deployments by 21 operators, including:

– Country-specific deployments in 23 European markets

– 24 Pan-European or global deployments by Europe-based operators

– 130 known Virtual Network Functions (VNFs), functional sub-componentsand supporting infrastructure elements

• Much less growth than expected: 70% in 2016; but no exponential increase in 2017 as some expected

Highlights from September 2017 (Europe) update

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Key data points

• Data on 66 completed and planned deployments by 16 operators, including:

– 11 US-based players, three Canadian and one Caribbean

– 119 known Virtual Network Functions (VNFs), functional sub-components and supporting infrastructure elements

• Initial impetus in 2015/6 was provided by ambitious roll-outs by AT&T and Verizon

• The surge in 2017 reflects catch-up by other leading players and generalised deployment of SD-WAN

Highlights from December 2017 (N. America) update

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Three pathways to NFV/SDN adoption are emerging…

Focus on scaled virtualisation of a few core functions/subsystems in a

way that minimises risks, dependencies & org change

Focus on wider organisational transformation – NFV/SDN as a

catalyst from both technological & cultural perspective

Focus initially on the customer and the services themselves, as opposed to the underlying

technology

1. Technology Evolution 3. Organisational Transformation 2. Service-led Innovation

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Three pathways to NFV/SDN adoption are emerging…

Focus on scaled virtualisation of a few core functions/subsystems in a

way that minimises risks, dependencies & org change

Focus on wider organisational transformation – NFV/SDN as a

catalyst from both technological & cultural perspective

Focus initially on the customer and the services themselves, as opposed to the underlying

technology

1. Technology Evolution 3. Organisational Transformation 2. Service-led Innovation

Software-enablednetwork

Network as asoftware service

Software as anetworked service

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Three pathways to NFV/SDN adoption are emerging…

Focus on scaled virtualisation of a few core functions/subsystems in a

way that minimises risks, dependencies & org change

Focus on wider organisational transformation – NFV/SDN as a

catalyst from both technological & cultural perspective

Focus initially on the customer and the services themselves, as opposed to the underlying

technology

1. Technology Evolution 3. Organisational Transformation 2. Service-led Innovation

• Virtualisation of core network functions(e.g. EPC, IMS and SBC) in relative isolation from each other and from network management systems

• Most NFV deployments in Europe to date (alongside a growing volume of SDN and SD-WAN)

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Three pathways to NFV/SDN adoption are emerging…

Focus on scaled virtualisation of a few core functions/subsystems in a

way that minimises risks, dependencies & org change

Focus on wider organisational transformation – NFV/SDN as a

catalyst from both technological & cultural perspective

Focus initially on the customer and the services themselves, as opposed to the underlying

technology

1. Technology Evolution 3. Organisational Transformation 2. Service-led Innovation

• Evolving enterprise

managed services to

more address hybrid

networking needs

• Has led to North

American emphasis on

SDN and SD-WAN,

enabling software control

of data flows across the

WAN, the public Internet

and the cloud

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Three pathways to NFV/SDN adoption are emerging…

Focus on scaled virtualisation of a few core functions/subsystems in a

way that minimises risks, dependencies & org change

Focus on wider organisational transformation – NFV/SDN as a

catalyst from both technological & cultural perspective

Focus initially on the customer and the services themselves, as opposed to the underlying

technology

1. Technology Evolution 3. Organisational Transformation 2. Service-led Innovation

• Associated with the more transformational impact of SDN / NFV on the telco network, business model and organisation

• Moving towards the vision of the future telco: operating software-based networks and delivering software-based (i.e. digital) services

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… with different challenges associated

Focus on scaled virtualisation of a few core functions/subsystems in a

way that minimises risks, dependencies & org change

Focus on wider organisational transformation – NFV/SDN as a

catalyst from both technological & cultural perspective

Focus initially on the customer and the services themselves, as opposed to the underlying

technology

1. Technology Evolution 3. Organisational Transformation 2. Service-led Innovation

Unclear business case

Risk of silos

Technical skillset

Developing compelling propositions

Operational skillset

Orchestration across functions

Changing traditionalist mindsets

Building common understanding

Need for software skills

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How to stay on track?

Defining strategic pathway

Taking NFVto launch

Overcoming challenges

initial strategy, end goal, ambition

“building the playbook” – technology, strategy, culture, operational, etc.

proposition development, reference customer recruitment, go-to-market

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Audience vote: which approach to NFV?

Which approach to NFV implementation is the best way forwards?

14%

39%

46%

Technologyevolution

Service-ledinnovation

Organisationaltransformation

Which approach to NFV implementation is your organisation adopting?

37% 37%

26%

Technologyevolution

Service-ledinnovation

Organisationaltransformation

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Any questions?

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